The return to refinement noted at such red carpet events as the Academy Awards signals an end to the era of creative black tie where anything goes, regardless of taste and classic tradition. More and more men are embracing a return of sartorial sophistication by wearing classic formal wear. Today's tuxedo is super-classic luxury with a streamlined silhouette. It is pure elegance in gentlemanly style.

No other form of dress for a man is as steeped in such ritualistic sense of propriety as formal wear. While a dedicated dresser can express his personal style even with formal wear, it still remains that formal evening wear was conceived to respond to a strict dress code that gives no more latitude to civilian dress than a uniform to a military man. There is something incredibly elegant about the simplicity of black and white. From its stark contrast and conspicuous absence of pattern, to the finished look when the elements are properly assembled, formal wear indeed presents a man at his most debonair.

As more and more people today are re-experiencing the pleasures of dressing up, it is easy for almost any gentleman to find himself attending affairs requiring black tie at least several times a year. Therefore, a properly styled tuxedo is one of the smartest and potentially most enduring investments a man can make for his wardrobe.

Propriety in formal wear dictates just four proper styles for the tuxedo in either black or midnight blue: the peaked lapel tuxedo, with grosgrain facing on the lapel, in either single-breasted or double-breasted styling, or the single-breasted or double-breasted shawl collar with either satin or grosgrain on the lapel facings. All are paired with conventional formal trousers. While there are all sorts of jacket variations on the market, these are considered the only proper choices.

Perhaps Alan Flusser put the exclamation point on the discussion when he wrote in Dressing the Man, "dinner jacket models that deviate from these four classic archetypes or boast such informal embellishments as notched lapels or flap pockets devolve into sartorial oxymorons, convoluting both the form's aesthetic logic and its promise of timeless elegance. The whole idea of a formal suit is to distinguish itself from the notch-lapel business suit, not replicate it."